A Chinese Fed-2

[lushd]

Zhang - that looks like a serious lens. Also I like your lighting setup. It brings out every detail.

 

[zhang xk]

Question about " Leica " pictured here, can you give me a price in US Dollars for it ? Thanks in advance.

Sorry, this Shanghai 58-II is not for sale, but a Shnaghai 58-II could be found for US 100-300 dependig on the various versions. The 1st and 2nd version with strap lugs cost more.

Cheers,

Zhang

 

[ZorkiKat]

Comrade Zhang

How could I have missed the connection between 1958 and the Great Leap Forward!?😀

I know exactly that feeling you have about precision metal/mechanical machinery. The first watch I had was a 'cheap' ticker from China (I think its brand was "Swan"). It was styled like those square 1970s Rado wristwatches with funky blue faces. "Cheap" can be relative- the quartz watches I had over the years seemed cheaper than that little clockwork machine.

I have a friend who's now based in Shanghai. Are the Shanghai 58-II still found in the camera flea markets there?

My Chinese is still as bad as ever... 😀

Jay

 

[zhang xk]

Hi Jay,

I saw a couple of Shanghai 58-IIs in one of the second hand gear shops not long ago in Maliandao, a second hand euipment center in Beijing. I think these should be easier to find in Shanghai.

Believe it or not, I am an internationally well known vintage Chinese watch expert now!, and one of the moderators of the only English online forum for mechanical Chinese watches. 😱 :bang:

Your Swan was not cheap. It was made in Harbin, and probably cost 2-3 monthly salary of a young worker's in 1970's.


Cheers,

Zhang

 

[ZorkiKat]

Hi Jay,

I saw a couple of Shanghai 58-IIs in one of the second hand gear shops not long ago in Maliandao, a second hand euipment center in Beijing. I think these should be easier to find in Shanghai.

Believe it or not, I am an internationally well known vintage Chinese watch expert now!, and one of the moderators of the only English online forum for mechanical Chinese watches. 😱 :bang:

Your Swan was not cheap. It was made in Harbin, and probably cost 2-3 monthly salary of a young worker's in 1970's.


Cheers,

Zhang

Thanks Zhang!

I didn't know that my watch cost so much. I should have kept the Swan. It was the cheapest watch available here for children in the late 1970s. My parents thought that a more expensive watch was too much of a risk for me- that I would only damage, break or lose it. Anyway, I 'felt' behind my schoolmates who had Japanese Seiko, Citizen or American Timex watches....The Swan cost about 1/3 the cheapest Japanese watch, and probably 1/20 of a European watch then.

Looking back, the situation is reversed. Now I'd rather have that Swan than a Swatch, or for that matter, a Zorki than a Nikon, or a Seagull than a Voigtlaender! 😀

Jay

 

[zhang xk]

Thanks Zhang!

....Japanese Seiko, Citizen or American Timex watches....The Swan cost about 1/3 the cheapest Japanese watch, and probably 1/20 of a European watch then.

Looking back, the situation is reversed. Now I'd rather have that Swan than a Swatch, or for that matter, a Zorki than a Nikon, or a Seagull than a Voigtlaender! 😀

Jay

Hi Jay,

Just a few more words about vintage Chinese watches. Early Beijing BS-2, SB-5 model watches(1961-1972) are in fact Swiss Enicar brand watches made in Beijing China on imported production line and according to Enicar quality standards. A Beijing BS-2 was about 70% price of a similar Enicar in the 1960's. Now a clean used Beijing BS-2 watch could cost far more than a Swiss or Japanese one on flea markets. 🙂

Zhang

 

[ZorkiKat]

Comrade Zhang

What cameras did the Chinese photojournalists use? I am aware that many used TLRs, and that a special Chinese Hasselblad ("东风") was issued to some of them.

In one old footage I saw about Imelda Marcos's (wife of the late dictator Marcos) visit to China in 1976, some Chinese photographers were seen in the background as Ms Marcos met Chairman Mao Zedong. These photographers shot with what looked to be old-style Leicas (the Shanghai 58?). They were seen winding knobs and held cameras which had long lenses and "Imarect" type finders on top of them.

There's also a story that Mdm. Jiang Qing also commissioned a limited number of rangefinders which looked like Canon-7 but had a Leica M-mount (the Hongqi/Red Flag？）.

Were there many Shanghai-58 made? What would be the possibility of finding these, say in less urban areas in Fujian? I could probably ask my uncles or cousins there if they had these or know of any being neglected and need to be adopted 😀 ...if I could only find a way of describing the Shanghai 58 correctly to them...heheheh.

Jay

 

[chendayuan]

The quality and felling of these chinese made Leica or Hass copies are in the same league of Rassian Leica copies. Same is the Red Flag 20. For shooting go for real Leica.

 

[zhang xk]

Comrade Jay,

Chinese professional photogrphers used all sorts of equipment before Japanese SLRs flooded the market. Leica M3, IIIF, Contax II,III(a), Kiev 2,3,4, Seagull 4A, Rolleiflex 2.8F,etc.

The Red Flag-20 was a copy of a Leica model (M4?) that was also issued to XINHUA news agency. The Hassyblad 500C copy, DONG FENG(east wind)120 SLR was not popular as it was not very reliable, and was too expensive.

Shanghai 58-II was aimed at amatuer market, it was far less costly(about RMB200, or 5 monthly salary of a young worker's. or more than 2 ounces of 24K gold. 😀 ) About 70,000 Shanghai 58 IIs were made until about 1963. One would have a better chance to find a clean 58-II in big cities and even thogh, they might not work properly. 🙁 These are beautiful paper weights and collectors' treasures.

BTW, a Kiev 4 cost RMB 1,200 in early 1970's that was roughly the same cost as a 3-4 room country house at the time. :bang:

Zhang